Shloka 166
अध्याय ७५ — दैव-पुरुषकार-समन्वयः
Reconciling Contingency and Human Effort
द्रष्टा मां त्वं च लोकश्न विकर्षन्तं वरान् वरान् जब (घमासान युद्धमें) मैं कुपित होकर मतवाले हाथियों
draṣṭā māṃ tvaṃ ca loka-jña vikarṣantaṃ varān varān; yuddhe krodha-samāviṣṭo mattān gajān rathinaś ca hayārohāṃś ca pātayiṣyāmi prakṣepsyāmi ca; anyāṃś ca śreṣṭhān kṣatriya-vīrān nihaniṣyāmi; tadā tvaṃ ca pare lokāś ca māṃ drakṣyatha yathāhaṃ pradhāna-pradhānān vīrān vicitya vicitya saṃharāmi.
Bhīmasena dijo: «Tú, que conoces los caminos del mundo, me verás abatir a los más excelsos guerreros. Cuando, en la furia de la batalla encarnizada, comience a derribar y a arrojar a un lado elefantes enloquecidos, combatientes de carro y jinetes, y cuando me entregue a dar muerte a otros eminentes héroes kṣatriya, entonces tú y el resto de la gente veréis cómo elijo, uno por uno, a los campeones principales y los destruyo.»
भीमसेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds kṣatriya-dharma as martial duty: Bhīma frames his coming violence as deliberate, targeted destruction of leading enemy champions. Ethically, it highlights the tension between righteous duty in war and the dangerous momentum of anger (krodha) that can intensify violence.
Bhīma declares that, once battle begins, he will in wrath bring down elephants, chariot-fighters, and cavalry, and will systematically pick out and kill the foremost kṣatriya heroes—so that the addressed ‘knower of the world’ and others will witness his selective slaughter of principal warriors.